Day 17 of Lupe’s 2017 Dingo Vacation to the Yukon & Alaska!
4:20 AM – Light rain. The sky showed no improvement. Lupe wanted out. SPHP let her go. She sniffed around in the ditch next to the Dalton Highway on Finger Mountain (2,202 ft.). It was still dark out, but not completely. The first faint hint of dawn made it possible to see Loop dimly as she trotted this way and that conducting her investigations.
Suddenly there was movement in the air! A large bird swooped out of the night to hover directly over Lupe, perhaps 15 or 20 feet above her. The bird hovered only a few seconds before flying off, but returned a moment later. It appeared to be some kind of an owl. An owl intent on Dingo for breakfast!
Lupe took no notice of the owl swooping and hovering above her. The owl made 7 or 8 different passes before wisely flying off into the gloom, no doubt deeply disappointed that the American Dingo hadn’t been half as big. Apparently a 30+ pound Dingo was beyond its capabilities.
The Carolina Dog returned to the G6 completely oblivious to the fact that her first and last red eye flight over Finger Mountain’s tundra had been fortuitously cancelled. Loop curled up and went back to sleep.
7:52 AM – Oh, joy! SPHP woke to find the rain had ended. Half the sky was blue! It was going to be a great day. Lupe was going to get to climb Caribou Mountain (3,179 ft.) after all!
Before heading for Caribou Mountain, though, Loopster ought to climb Finger Mountain again. The summit was only 100 yards from the Dalton Highway. Lupe had been up there yesterday afternoon, but conditions were much better now. A second journey up Finger Mountain would take hardly any time at all.
In only a few minutes, the Carolina Dog was standing on the summit rocks once again.
Back at the G6, SPHP needed to get a few things ready before Lupe left Finger Mountain to look for a place from which to begin her ascent of Caribou Mountain. After hearing SPHP’s tale about a giant owl that had been ready to swoop down and carry her off into the night to be devoured, Loop decided she would wait inside the G6.
Caribou Mountain is only 7 miles WNW of Finger Mountain. Lupe was going to head a few miles N on the Dalton Highway to see if she could find a place to start closer to it, but the mountain was already in view. Did Loop want to have a look at Caribou Mountain from Finger Mountain before heading out?
Yes, she did! No owl would dare swoop down on a fully grown ferocious American Dingo in broad daylight! If it did, it would be that owl’s last swoop ever. We’d see just who would devour who. SPHP was full of it. Maybe it was August Fool’s Day or something?
Lupe crossed over to the W side of the Dalton Highway. She climbed up on the same rock formation she had visited yesterday over here. Sure enough, there was Caribou Mountain (3,179 ft.) off to the WNW. It looked easy! Just a miles long, gentle ridge. Why, Lupe would have a blast up there! Running around exploring open tundra was one of her favorite things.
After taking a gander at Caribou Mountain from Finger Mountain, Lupe and SPHP took off in the G6 heading N on the Dalton Highway. The idea was to find a place along the highway where the G6 could be stashed somewhere close to the end of Caribou Mountain’s miles long NE ridge.
SPHP was surprised to see buildings W of the Dalton Highway where the best place to start an ascent of Caribou Mountain seemed to be. There was no sign of anyone around. The place looked like an abandoned homestead, but maybe not, too. The buildings didn’t look old enough to be certain.
Buildings way out here? A lone house 15 miles from the Arctic Circle? Was this area private property? SPHP had no clue. It seemed unlikely to say the least. Hmm. SPHP drove on to see what other possibilities might exist.
After driving back and forth over the same few miles several times, SPHP finally parked the G6 along the edge of a wide gravel road 30 feet from where it left the W side of the Dalton Highway. Lupe was a little farther N than SPHP would have liked, about a mile S of the Kanuti River, but the chances of an angry landowner suddenly appearing here seemed remote.
The short road was blocked by a large red metal gate. This road was a link to the Alaska oil pipeline service road only a short distance from the highway. The G6 was parked leaving plenty of room so service vehicles needing to get by could easily do so.
When Lupe set out (9:39 AM, 50°F), the summit of Caribou Mountain (3,179 ft.) was about 4 miles away as the crow or evil owl flies, perhaps 5 following the NE ridge. A line of trees blocked views of the ridge from the G6. Loop and SPHP went around the red gate, which was chained shut, and followed the gravel road. A short stroll brought Lupe beyond the stand of trees.
Ahead was a mixed deciduous forest of small trees and tall bushes. Beyond the forest was a big hill, part of a rounded ridge leading higher and farther S. A conifer forest was present on lower portions of the big hill, but the upper slopes looked like a mostly barren region of alpine tundra.
Lupe’s first mission was clear. She needed to get beyond the forests and bushes. If the Carolina Dog could reach the alpine tundra, she should have an easy obstacle-free climb the rest of the way up the big hill. From there she could proceed to the ridge beyond it.
Loop followed the road as far as it went toward the big hill, which wasn’t far at all. Directly ahead was an area that looked like flat, easy terrain. However, it proved to be full of tussocks and boggy. A tremendously thick layer of spongy vegetation gave way at each step.
It soon became clear that Lupe was heading for a pond. There seemed to be somewhat higher ground on the N side of the pond, which proved to be true. The ground here was much firmer and drier. Lupe managed to circle around the N and W sides of the pond without further difficulties.
Once around the pond, Lupe was almost immediately confronted with an area dominated by a dense tangle of bushes higher than SPHP’s head. The terrain was beginning to rise here, but was rough and uneven. Low spots were filled with water, in some places several feet deep.
This region was a real jungle for Lupe. Even SPHP couldn’t see a thing. At least Looper could maneuver through it reasonably well, but for SPHP it was a tough slog trying to force a way through. Fortunately the dense jungle trek wasn’t terribly long. The Carolina Dog eventually stumbled upon a little hill about 10 feet high. Beyond it was a more open slope of scattered conifers and bushes.
The terrain was now rising at a steady clip. It wasn’t steep, but going up the long slope was harder than anticipated. The scattered forest was surprisingly wet and boggy. Small pools of water, often connected by little streams, were all over the place. Tussocks were present, making footing unreliable. Deadfall timber was scattered about, but wasn’t too much of a problem since the trees here were stunted. A fair number of dead trees were still standing.
Lupe and SPHP forged ahead, trying to aim for whatever seemed to be the driest part of the slope. Gradually the trees and bushes thinned out and disappeared. The pools of water and little streams faded away, too. Lupe had made it to the mostly barren upper slopes of the big hill. Underpaw were small rocks and sparse tundra vegetation.
The climb was steeper up here, but the terrain was great. No obstacles at all! Somewhere along the way, Lupe reached the top of the big hill she’d been aiming for, but it was hard to say exactly where. It was all part of a broad, rounded ridge continuing higher. The American Dingo just kept climbing.
Lupe reached Caribou Mountain’s main NE ridgeline at a particularly barren point. Hardly any vegetation was present here. Small reddish rocks covered the ground. The area was quite flat, having only a slightly rounded aspect to it. A couple hundred yards ahead was a cluster of rocks perhaps 25 or 30 feet high. To the SE was a bigger hill along the ridgeline, High Point 2355 on the topo map.
If SPHP had been able to park the G6 farther S as originally intended, Lupe would have arrived here from the direction of High Point 2355. As it was, the Carolina Dog had effectively bypassed it.
For the first time, the summit of Caribou Mountain was now in view, about 3 miles to the SW. Lupe could see much of the very wide, gently rounded NE ridge leading to it. A number of high points were visible along the way.
Before continuing on toward the summit, Lupe went to check out the nearby cluster of rocks. She climbed partway up, getting quite close to the top.
After finishing her fun little scramble on the cluster of rocks, all Lupe had to do was keep following Caribou Mountain’s vast NE ridge toward the summit. The next high point along the way was a small rocky ridge about 15 minutes away off to the W. Loopster would actually lose a little elevation going over to it.
As Lupe neared this next high point, the terrain changed a bit. Medium size rocks were strewn around the area near the ridge. Small trees and bushes grew here. The ridge itself was 40 or 50 feet high, consisting of rough rock and assorted large boulders. A short easy rock hopping scramble would get Loop to the top.
Lupe had approached this small ridge from the E, which turned out to be its highest and most dramatic side. Beyond the boulders at the top, the ridge was more like a relatively level hilltop. Medium size rocks and small bushes covered this area. Several more large boulders were here, too. Lupe got up on one of the biggest.
Continuing on, Lupe scrambled down the W side of the rocky hilltop. Two much bigger high points were now ahead to the SW. The summit of Caribou Mountain was in view beyond them.
These next two high points were not collections of medium to large rocks and boulders, like the two high points Looper had just visited. They were big, rounded hills covered with alpine tundra and mostly smaller rocks.
Loop did not go clear to the top of either of these next two high points. Expending the extra energy required to do so was unnecessary. The smooth, steadily rising slope made it easier to simply skirt around the NW side of each hill, although Lupe did pass fairly close to the summits in both cases.
Nearing the second of the big hills, Lupe came to another cluster of big rocks and boulders that formed a small prominent point perhaps 20 to 25 feet high. SPHP was well beyond this prominence, before realizing that the American Dingo was still back there.
Lupe had discovered some sort of squirrel or pika or something similar that apparently made this cluster of rocks its home. The Carolina Dog was in hot pursuit of the lively squirrel, which was extraordinarily quick and agile. The squirrel leapt confidently boulder to boulder, circling the cluster of rocks, suddenly appearing as if by magic first one place then another.
The squirrel had the advantage of being able to scramble way up to the top of the spire where Lupe couldn’t possibly reach it. However, the squirrel didn’t seem to realize it was completely safe up there, and kept darting down among the lower rocks hoping to get out of sight.
For Lupe this was an exhilarating game of chase! When it came to speed and agility, she was no slouch either. She bounded around circling the whole rock cluster at such an enthusiastic, single-minded pace, that SPHP feared Loop might break a leg, if this game wasn’t brought to a speedy end. SPHP had to call her twice before she reluctantly left the squirrel unharmed, still lord and master of its rock cluster.
Lupe returned to SPHP breathless, panting hard, with an enormous grin on her face. For the next little while, she roamed far and wide searching diligently for another squirrel, but her efforts were disappointed.
When Lupe made it beyond the second big hill, she found herself in a moderately sloping area. This region had a fair amount of small to medium size rock, and was surprisingly boggy. The water supply made the tundra more lush here. Ahead, a long ridge slanted steadily up from the N toward the NE end of a dark hill.
The summit of Caribou Mountain was somewhere up on that hill. From a distance, the summit had appeared heavily forested. By now, though, Lupe could clearly see that it wasn’t. The hill consisted of exposed dark colored rocks and boulders.
Lupe traipsed through the boggy area, angling WSW toward the ridge slanting up to the NE base of the summit hill.
The boggy area was more extensive than anticipated. It took longer than expected to get through it, and make the trek up the ridge. Eventually, though, Lupe was approaching the hill of dark rock at the top of Caribou Mountain. It was maybe 125 to 150 feet high, and would be a pretty steep scramble the entire way up.
The scramble up the NE face of the big summit hill was fun and actually quite easy. It went quickly. Most of the rocks were stable, and it wasn’t hard to find routes avoiding the biggest boulders and other impassable spots. Many rocks were covered with bright orange lichens.
At the end of the scramble, Lupe reached a gently sloping region. The top of the summit hill was a vast area many acres in size. The ground was covered with scattered patches of alpine tundra. Between the patches were ditches full of rocks. Each patch of tundra was sort of like an island, surrounded by these rock-filled ditches.
From a great distance, a little dark knob had been visible up on top of Caribou Mountain. As it turned out, Lupe had scrambled up quite near it. She could now see that the dark knob was actually a hill of rock about 75 feet high superimposed upon the vast general summit region she had just reached. Unless something higher was hidden beyond it, the true summit of Caribou Mountain had to be up on this final rocky hill.
The N face of the smaller hill was another fun scramble. Lupe came up right between the two highest rocks. It was instantly clear Loop had made it to the true summit of Caribou Mountain (3,179 ft.)!
On the highest rock was a survey benchmark. It even said Caribou.
After an initial look around, Lupe found a bigger surprise 25 feet SW of the true summit. Among the rocks was another survey marker. Next to the marker were two plaques in memory of Jamie & Jason Burroughs.
Stashed among the rocks near the plaques were a clear plastic jar and a thermos with the Big Dipper and North Star on it. The jar contained only a plastic bag with a pen and two pencils in it. The thermos was tightly stuffed with two plastic bags containing more pens, registries, and some other papers.
The registries contained so few entries, SPHP read them all. One entry of particular interest was by Jason Burroughs dated 2008 or 2009. Jason had written that he had lived at the base of Caribou Mountain for 2 years. Some of the additional papers revealed that Jason ran a resort – Old Man Alaska Bed & Breakfast. There was even a photo of Jason and his two daughters.
Nothing indicated how or why either Jason or Jamie had died so young. Those buildings Lupe had seen this morning on the W side of the Dalton Highway while SPHP had been looking for a place to park the G6 must have been where Jason had lived. It was probably the former site of Old Man Alaska Bed & Breakfast. Absolutely nothing else was around here way out in the Alaskan wilderness.
SPHP signed Lupe into the registry, then put everything back in place. Time to check out the views from Caribou Mountain.
The sky had been totally overcast when Lupe arrived at the true summit of Caribou Mountain. Since then, holes had appeared in the clouds once or twice. Lupe basked briefly in bright sunshine. However, as time wore on, it was becoming clear the Carolina Dog was leading a charmed existence. Rain showers could be seen in every direction.
The showers to the N and E were quite a long way off. The ones to the W were closer, but weren’t headed this way. The real threat was from the S. A long line of showers was advancing toward Caribou Mountain, driven by a steady S breeze.
Lupe had arrived early enough in the day so she should have been able to spend a long time at the summit. Sadly, it wasn’t going to work out that way.
Lupe and SPHP spent 45 minutes up on the rocky summit of Caribou Mountain. Then, with rain showers approaching, it was time to get going. Before departing glorious Caribou Mountain, Lupe returned to the highest rocks at the true summit.
Lupe remained briefly up at the summit while SPHP started down.
The return trip was a race against deteriorating weather. Loop followed the same general route back down the NE ridge. For a long way, the return trip was a great deal of fun. Lupe never saw the sun again, but the views were so awesome! The strengthening S breeze and encroaching clouds created a wild, gloomy, menacing mood enhanced by the knowledge that Lupe and SPHP were alone in northern Alaska.
On the way back, Lupe tagged the summits of both the big hills she had skirted on the way up. Between them, a rain shower caught her. SPHP had stopped to put on the rain poncho only minutes before. The S wind drove the rain so hard the raindrops stung a little. This first shower lasted only 10 minutes. Lupe got wet, but SPHP hadn’t fared too badly.
Lupe was doing great! She was making excellent progress. Rain was all around, but except for that one 10 minute shower, the Carolina Dog was lucky. She made it all the way back to the area where she had first reached the main NE ridgeline. SPHP wasn’t eager to go back down the boggy lower slope Lupe had originally come up to get here, however. It would be nice to avoid that jungle of bushes down near the bottom, too.
Instead of taking the same route down that she had come up in the morning, Lupe stuck with the main NE ridge longer. This time she passed only a little N of High Point 2355. The Carolina Dog went to the far E end of Caribou Mountain’s NE ridge before turning N.
The G6 was only half an hour away when Lupe’s luck ran out. A second rain shower finally caught her. This time it was no mere 10 minute affair. Rain poured down twice as long and twice as hard as the first time.
Lupe had avoided the boggy terrain and the jungle of bushes, but it hardly mattered. Coming down off the ridge, she had to go through a forest with deadfall, meadows of high grass, and stands of tall bushes. Everything was soaking wet. By the time Loop and SPHP reached the service road along the buried Alaska oil pipeline, both were drenched. May as well have gone swimming! (7:30 PM)
No matter. The G6 wasn’t far away now. SPHP would make everything alright there. The important thing was Lupe had made it to the top of Caribou Mountain today.
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